JK Modeler's Guide - Ch. 9.5 - The Complete Guide to JK Modeler's Guide

[MangaDex]

 

[Mr.Archer]

In true JKMG form; translating this interview was a massive pain, but it was worth it.

 

[xanon]

I love how they still don't explain why Iroha has horns.

 

[drmana]

Thank you translation of the interview. It's interesting reading about this older styles of kits that they had back in the day. Kits that came with gum is wild to me.


But I am confused about one thing: what does Doug Kurusu mean about the "warring states period" of model kits? I get that there is a little more competition. But nothing that would constitute a war. Mostly regional preferences and general media consumption.

 

[Mr.Archer]

I love how they still don't explain why Iroha has horns.

They're not horns, they're ears. On page 4 it says she wears an animal ear hairband.

Thank you translation of the interview. It's interesting reading about this older styles of kits that they had back in the day. Kits that came with gum is wild to me.


But I am confused about one thing: what does Doug Kurusu mean about the "warring states period" of model kits? I get that there is a little more competition. But nothing that would constitute a war. Mostly regional preferences and general media consumption.

I have to admit when I got to the end of the article and read 'Plamo Sengoku Jidai' I did laugh and think it was a bit hyperbolic. But the more I thought about it, I must be about 10 years younger than Doug and I know that the hobby of model making is massively different now compared to the one I knew in the mid-90's.

There are more companies and more competition than ever. In the West at least (I can’t speak for Japan’s hobby stores), there are also fewer shelves to compete over. On top of that, the tech level has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. Kits now have more articulation, better color separation, and utilize computer modeling and 3D printing to design more complex kits with improved transformations.

The wider availability of the internet has also made tutorials and guides much easier to access- I didn’t even know what an airbrush was in the mid-90's! Much like how the arrival of the arquebus and the introduction of Western combat tactics reshaped warfare during the Sengoku period, these advancements have completely transformed the hobby.

Also, I didn't see your spoiler text until I quoted you because you made a small error with the tags but, it's a good point; I should've put the video links in the first post. Here they are:

Transformers Gum
Tamiya 1/6 Harley Davidson FLH + Sidecar

And a few more (since I tried not to include too many in the notes since they're a pain to link to there):

1/144 GGI K.O.G
Big One Gum 1978 Unboxing (You see the gum but sadly no taste test of 40+ year old candy...)
Here's a 1985 Z Gundam Choco Ad

 

[drmana]

Having slept on it, the changes in technology and even material production is a lot like going from a feudal era to the early industrialization of Japan. I have even experienced without realizing it. There were reprints of MS-06 Zaku 2 from the '82 molds I picked up just because of curiosity of how things used to be. Haven't finished it. If that was the standard 40 years ago, I don't think I would be this deep. The changes are far more dramatic than what I have ever expected or experienced.

The wider availability of the internet has also made tutorials and guides much easier to access- I didn’t even know what an airbrush was in the mid-90's! Much like how the arrival of the arquebus and the introduction of Western combat tactics reshaped warfare during the Sengoku period, these advancements have completely transformed the hobby.

Now I'm more into 40k than Plamo mainly due to the social aspect of gameplay (outside 10th ed). But I enjoy these Bandai kits due to the level of quality they mange to cram in. A MG Ball is more fun to put together than a squad of mono-pose imperial guard. I even have 3d printers to make specialized armies and custom parts (plus price difference). An airbrush is uncommon tool that takes to long to set up and use for me. Still have one with a collapsible booth, two different styles of brushes, and a handful of airbrush paints just to make sure the flow is right.

But there are things I haven't seen like photo-etched parts. The worse kind of plastic I've dealt with is finecast. At one point these were height of new developments of new technology! But having started roughly a decade ago they were out of fashion. It's like giving raincoats to the Ashigaru; there was a point where they didn't? There was a point where there wasn't a dedicated store to get model paints? I can't even begin to imagine what it is like watching it change from when they were young.

(Yeah, I tried to fix the spoiler right after I posted. But I haven't had to do BBcode since middle school, so I just left it.)

 

[Mr.Archer]

Yes, I've dropped off of Warhammer now but it's where I had my start too. I was a teenager in the 90's in the UK, everyone I know who's into model building came in through the GW pipeline.

 

[Fugutron]

It didn't really hit me how cheap kits were until i saw a kit that was sold for premium bux in my country being dumped in the bargain bin outside a hobby store in Japan for like 200 yen. Kind of wish we could go back to the days of cheap solid kits rather than the race to put in the next fancy stuff in kits.

 

[BP]

It was kind of hard to read the spreads but what a great effort to translate!

I love how they still don't explain why Iroha has horns.

I also thought Iroha had Oni horns (though I did surmise that it was a headband or something)


The Big 1 Gum is honestly a great idea that they should bring back to entice kids into the hobby. Even entry level "starter" sets are intimidating. Also, the ONLY one of those starter sets that ACTUALLY includes a sprue cutter is the 72001 EF-2000 kit from Italeri of all people. I'm surprised it took this long to throw it into the box.

 

[blueocean]

Amazing work as always. I'm glad that someone as dedicated and with knowledge in both Japanese and model-making has decided to tackle this series, and you did a bang-up job with the typesetting. Thanks for the interview translation.

 

[Mr.Archer]

Amazing work as always. I'm glad that someone as dedicated and with knowledge in both Japanese and model-making has decided to tackle this series, and you did a bang-up job with the typesetting. Thanks for the interview translation.

High praise, considering the source. No, I'm quite flattered, thank you. I'm glad someone who is more familiar with Wakaki-sensei's work than I is happy with it. It's funny you should mention the knowledge of model-making. Once I've completed the current batch of one-shots from Mitaina! I've committed to doing, there's another series I have my eye on which that knowledge will be useful for.